Problems plaguing the Beaumont school district, including financial impropriety and a dysfunctional school board, are made worse by overzealous scrutiny of the district by some and won't be solved until the entire community works together, black community leaders said Wednesday.

The Beaumont chapter of the NAACP and the Beaumont Ministerial Association delivered a clear and succinct message to the community: If we are going to fix BISD, we need to work together.

Eight black ministers and Paul Jones, executive director of the NAACP chapter, met at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church on Wednesday afternoon to address concerns they have about BISD and the image they say some critics of the school district have of black community leaders.

"The African-American community does not condone unlawful activities by anyone," said Jones, who led the news conference Wednesday, alluding to the indictment of two former high-ranking finance officers who are accused of embezzling $4 million from the district.

The community leaders made their announcement the same day the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas and the Jefferson County District Attorney formed a joint task force to fight public corruption and violent crimes.

If the two former employees - Devin McCraney and Sharika Allison - are convicted, Jones and the other leaders said they would like to see the district recoup as much of the $4 million as possible.

Jones said he wanted BISD to seek the $2 million in restitution that the district's contract electrician Calvin Walker forfeited as part of his plea deal in 2012, but the attitudes of some BISD critics dissuaded him.

He specifically mentioned Beaumont city councilman and outspoken BISD critic Michael Getz as one of those who deterred him from going after that money.

Walker pleaded guilty in 2012 for failing to pay his taxes in a timely manner to avoid the weightier charges of defrauding the school district, to which Walker later conceded he actually did in a written agreement with authorities.

"I won't say the district is perfect," Jones said. "But I don't think we will ever be able to clean up the district by throwing rocks at each other."